Harvard University will undertake a new investigation into its ties to Jeffrey Epstein after correspondence between the late sex offender and the school’s former president was made public by US lawmakers.
Following the disclosure, former Harvard President Larry Summers said that he would step back from public commitments. On Wednesday, a spokesperson for Summers said he would “go on leave” from his role as director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government. Co-instructors will take over the remainder of his classes this semester, and Summers isn’t scheduled to teach next semester.
“The university is conducting a review of information concerning individuals at Harvard included in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein documents to evaluate what actions may be warranted,” a spokesperson for the school said in a statement.
The probe ramps up the pressure on Summers, 70, as he nears the twilight of one of the most prominent careers in American economics, an arc that includes prize-winning research and a stint as US Treasury secretary. Earlier this week, Summers said he was “deeply ashamed” of his actions and took responsibility for “my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein.”
Through a spokesperson, Summers declined to comment on Harvard’s new investigation, which was reported earlier by the Harvard Crimson. The university had previously disclosed a range of connections to Epstein in a 2020 report.
That report showed the school received more than $9 million in gifts from Epstein between 1998 and 2008 to support research and faculty activities. It also disclosed that no gifts were received from Epstein following his conviction in 2008 after he pled guilty to two sex charges in state court. The report came out as Epstein’s ties to some of the world’s wealthiest men and elite institutions were revealed, including donations and frequent visits to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Summers’ retreat from public commitments includes his role as a paid contributor to Bloomberg Television, a Bloomberg News spokesperson confirmed this week. He’s also leaving the board of OpenAI, the artificial-intelligence company said Wednesday.
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform last week released 20,000 documents from Epstein’s estate. The disclosure by House Democrats included exchanges between Epstein and many high-profile figures, including former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and Peter Mandelson, who was fired earlier this year from his post as the UK ambassador to the US.
The documents included emails in which Summers discussed President Donald Trump with Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 after being arrested on charges of sex trafficking minors. His death was ruled a suicide.
Summers also asked Epstein for romantic advice regarding a woman he was interested in. The Crimson identified the woman as a student who earned a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D at Harvard, and said Summers described her as a person he was mentoring. A spokesperson for Summers told the newspaper that the woman was never Summers’ student.
Summers was made a tenured professor at Harvard at 28 and won the John Bates Clark Medal given to outstanding American economists under age 40. He resigned as president of Harvard in 2006 after clashing with faculty, including after commenting that innate differences in sex kept women from flourishing in math and science careers.
He later became a critic of the school’s response to accusations of antisemitism on campus and argued that Harvard needed to reform, even as he disagreed with the Trump administration’s interference in higher education. Summers served as Treasury secretary from 1999 to 2001 under former President Bill Clinton.
According to Harvard’s 2020 report, Epstein was appointed in 2005 as a visiting fellow, a designation granted to an independent researcher registered with the university’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. He was recommended to the post by then-psychology department chair Stephen Kosslyn.
Epstein had donated $200,000 to support Kosslyn’s work between 1998 and 2002. Epstein was admitted to return as a visiting fellow for the 2006-2007 academic year but withdrew from that appointment following his 2006 arrest, according to the Harvard report.
In addition, Epstein funded Harvard’s program for evolutionary dynamics with a $6.5 million gift in 2003 and maintained a relationship with its director, Martin Nowak, over the next 15 years, the report said. Epstein visited the evolutionary dynamics program’s offices in Harvard Square more than 40 times between 2010 and 2018.
The Harvard inquiry didn’t find evidence that Epstein engaged with undergraduate students during these visits or during his time as a visiting fellow.
